13 Ways to Beat the Heat

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When choosing sites for small, late summer plantings, make use of partial shade from neighboring plants that will be sent to the compost pile soon. After the new crop is up and growing, you can remove the “screen” plants to open the site to stronger sun.

To help seeds germinate fast, soak them in water overnight, which will coax them out of dormancy. If you can’t plant your plumped-up seeds right after a drenching rain, thoroughly water the bed or row the day before putting them in the ground.

To further insulate seeds from the drying effects of strong sun, it helps to plant the seeds slightly deeper than you would if planting them in spring. One trick that works every time is to plant seeds in a slightly recessed furrow, water well, and then cover the seeded furrow with a board for three to four days. When sowing in wide beds, shade the seeds with an old blanket or a piece of wood lattice held aloft over the bed with bricks for several days.

The repeated watering needed to get seeds up and growing sometimes causes a crust to form over germinating seeds, slowing or blocking their timely emergence. A light sprinkling of grass clippings will help prevent crusting, or you can cover seeds with potting soil or screened compost to keep the surface crust-free.

How to Keep Your Cool

When summer sizzles, it’s best to limit your outdoor work to the cool of the morning or late in the evening, but sometimes working in the sun is the only way to get things done. Wear a wide-brimmed hat to shade your face, and cool down your neck and wrists with loosely tied wet bandanas. A tie-on neck cooler will stay wet longer if you sew it up as a tube, fill it with a tablespoon of the same water-absorbing polymer crystals used to improve the moisture retention of potting soils (also used in diapers) and then sew up the ends. Or, thoroughly dampen clean dish or hand towels, shape them into rounded collars on cookie sheets, and pop them in the freezer. A frozen collar draped around your neck will cool you down for more than an hour.

Even with these tricks, remember that it’s unwise to do hard outdoor work when both the temperature and the humidity are high. When the two numbers added together equal more than 160, stay indoors during the middle of the day.

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